Chicken Balti

Balti is actually the name of the cooking pot and serving dish. a decent wok is a good substitute. my balti has red and green sweet (bell) peppers in it and looks very colorful. tastes pretty yummy too. if you have individual balti pots, heat them up and serve the sizzling curry in them. use nan bread to scoop out the curry from the balti. spoons or forks are not allowed!

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil or ghee

1 red and green capsicum, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped into big pieces

3 red chillies and green chillies

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

4 chicken breasts, skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tsp dry red chilli flakes (paprika)

1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

½ tsp cinnamon (dalchini) powder

A whole batch of Basic curry paste

1 tsp tomato puree

salt to taste

1 tsp garam masala

Instructions

Heat a little of the oil in a wok or balti pan over a high heat

Add the peppers and stir fry until they go a little brown at the edges. remove the peppers from the wok and set aside

Put a little more oil into the wok, heat through, then add some of the chicken pieces and stir fry until they are sealed and have turned white. remove the chicken from the wok and set aside. you will need to stir fry the chicken in 2 or 3 batches otherwise it will just stew

Add the rest of the oil to the wok and heat through on a medium heat

Add the onion pieces, chopped chiles and cumin seeds and stir fry until the onion is translucent but not brown

Add the paprika, turmeric and cinnamon on stir fry for 30 seconds

Return the chicken pieces to the wok along with the basic curry sauce, tomato puree and salt

Bring to a simmer then cook on a low heat for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. add a little hot water if the sauce gets too thick.

minutes from the end, stir the peppers and garam masala into the sauce.